travel reads. (kind of)

One of my goals for the year was to read as much as possible... I failed miserably at this goal until I went on my backpacking trip - the best way (for me) to kill time on a train was to read.

I downloaded several books before my trip- these were my must reads by popular demand or just authors I love so I knew I would enjoy reading their books. 

Of course Eat, Pray, Love is on my list- It is a travelogue by Elizabeth Gilbert who leaves everything in her current life to travel for a year- the book is far better than the movie- as most books are; it is a lovely read.

“Until I can feel as ecstatic about having a baby as I felt about going to New Zealand to search for giant squid, I cannot have a baby.” - Eat Pray Love

Wild is another female solo travel book. Cheryl Strayed is my favorite author, she can write anything.. I would read her small notes or her to do list. When I was 19 I discovered Cheryl Strayed on theRumpus.com, she wrote a letter to her younger self and at the time I thought her name was Sugar. Every year I read this letter and something different relates to me. 

“I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me.” 
― Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Tiny Beautiful Things- after I discovered Sugar was actually Cheryl Strayed- I went a little Author happy and downloaded anything I could find by her. This book is not a read all at one time type of book. It is a book you pick a chapter and read and if you can stop yourself from devouring all the advice at once- it is a nice read to come back to when you have time. 

Cheryl on Solo Travel:

“It’s hard to go. It’s scary and lonely [. . . ] and half the time you’ll be wondering why the hell you’re in Cincinnati or Austin or North Dakota or Mongolia or wherever your melodious little finger-plucking heinie takes you. There will be boondoggles and discombobulated days, freaked-out nights and metaphorical flat tires.

But it will be soul-smashingly beautiful, Solo. It will open up your life.”

Cheryl Strayed. “Tiny Beautiful Things.” 

Before you read Psychos, I suggest you go read "White Girl Problems" by Babe Walker first. Babe Walker is insane and extremely entertaining- in Psychos she has a few travel mishaps in Paris, Amsterdam and Greece- so you could consider it a travel read. 

“What are you doing in Amsterdam?”

“Oh you know . . . just chilling out, drawing, doing a bunch of drugs, not eating, hiding out from a stalker. The usual.”

Excerpt From: Babe Walker. “Psychos: A White Girl Problems Book.” iBooks. 

I read anything by Chelsea Handler. I love memoirs. Uganda Be Kidding Me just so happens to be about Chelsea's travels. This book is a short, fun read. 

Travel Etiquette- Uganda Be Kidding Be, Chelsea Handler

With Love,
Sierra